On the surface, you have a winning website – it’s polished, visually pleasing, and easy to find thanks to some serious digital marketing spend. The only problem is: It’s. Just. Not. Converting.

There are several reasons why even a seemingly well-designed website could be missing the mark: your copy is confusing, your Checkout is overly complex, or navigation is simply steering people off-course. Whatever the case, these sneaky conversion killers are sabotaging your efforts, scaring off potential customers and costing your business immensely.

The good news is there are some (very) simple ways to transform your website from a conversion chasm to a conversion champion. Coming up, we’ll delve deeper into some of the most common conversion barriers and discuss strategies to turn them around and get your website working better for you.

Conversion Catch 1: Unclear Value Proposition

A surprisingly large number of website conversion challenges can be solved by simply putting yourself in the buyers’ shoes. Sure, you’ve gone to great lengths to describe your product or services thoroughly and (hopefully) added striking images, but have you explained why this consumer needs what you are selling? There is a big difference between describing in detail the features of your top-of-the-line blow dryer – 1,600w of power, 41 l/s airflow – but have you addressed how this product will address how your product or service will benefit your buyer?

Be the Buyer

Offering potential customers a clear value proposition is crucial to turning browsers into buyers, and the best way to do this is by focusing on the buyers’ needs and demonstrating how your product or service meets or exceeds them. Marketing professionals work to channel buyer behaviour by creating buyer personas, and fictional representations of the target audience, and using these personas to create tailored marketing messages that speak directly to the intended audience. If you’re starting to sweat, don’t; you’ll be happy to know that you don’t need a degree to create your buyer personas. To get into the right mindset, you simply need to answer a few fundamental questions:

• Who are your potential customers?

• What are their pain points?

• What are their objectives?

• What are their preferences?

• How do they make decisions?

Getting the answers to these questions will enable you to identify with and view your products or services through the eyes of the people who will ultimately be buying them. Dyson has done a great job of selling their pricey blow dryers by doing exactly that. Their website clearly states how their product will solve a problem (faster drying with less heat), saving the technical details for lower on the page.

Conversion Catch 2: Overly Complex Checkout Process

According to the Baymard Institute, the average cart abandonment rate stands at around 69.99%. This figure was derived by taking the average of 48 studies on shopping cart abandonment, with rates spanning from 56% to a whopping 81%! No matter how you look at it, that is a lot of missed opportunities. And why are people bailing on their e-carts? The most common causes all have to do with overly ask-y or complex checkout processes. This includes things like asking for unnecessary or redundant information and having too many mandatory fields in web forms.

Make Buying a Breeze

Imagine you’re on a website, and you’re asked to fill out a form with a gazillion fields – name, address, phone number, pet’s name, and your favourite ice cream flavour before you can complete the checkout process. Nobody has the time or desire to wade through that, no matter how spectacular your products or services are. Complicated forms are a significant conversion barrier.

The simple (and obvious) solution to a convoluted online checkout process is to keep your forms as simple as possible. Ask for the essentials only, and if you need more info, break the form into multiple steps so it doesn’t feel overwhelming.

Here are other ways you can help streamline your checkout and boost your conversion rate:

• Set up a progress bar so customers can see exactly how close they are to completing their purchase.

• Offer clear and concise instructions for each form field and step to streamline the checkout process.

• Incorporate features like autofill, dropdown menus, and validation to expedite data entry.

• Allow customers to easily edit or remove items from their cart without exiting the checkout page.

• Opt for a minimalist layout and design that eliminates visual noise and focuses attention on essential elements.

• Include express checkout and multiple payment options.

Be Our Guest (But Don’t Force Guests to Create an Account)!

Have you ever wondered what percentage of online shoppers like being strongarmed into creating a user account to complete a purchase? The unverified answer is probably close to zero, however, we can tell that 24% of shoppers will drop their carts like a hot potato when asked to create one. Of course, you want to have as many users as possible create accounts. It’s a treasure trove of highly valuable consumer data that can be leveraged for consumer insights and marketing.

However, the key is to make this process optional to avoid alienating buyers who would prefer not to share their information. Instead of forcing customer accounts, provide a guest checkout option, and once a purchase has been completed, offer an incentive such as a discount on their next purchase or free shipping to encourage buyers to then create an account.

Therm has made its checkout process extremely straightforward. Opting for a single page design, express checkout, multiple payment solutions, and even a buy now, pay later feature.

Conversion Catch 3: Living Like It’s 2012

There is no way to get around or stop it. Mobile devices are now the single largest source of web traffic, standing at 57% in 2023. And users are not just catching up on the news or watching delightfully choreographed dance videos; more and more people are shopping online. According to recent stats, a whopping 41.8% of e-commerce sales originated from mobile devices in 2022 and this figure is expected to top 43.4% in 2023. This means that if your website doesn’t run as smoothly on a small screen as it does on a PC, you could be missing out on a major pool of consumers.

Design with Mobile in Mind

A mobile-responsive website is a must-have for any business selling products or services in this digital era. But what does mobile-responsive mean? Here’s what you need to know about developing a website that runs seamlessly across all devices:

• Keep Your Design Simple: When it comes to browsing a website from a mobile device, less is more. Pages overly cluttered with icons, images, copy, and contrasting colours are visually distracting and detract from what you are trying to do: get people to buy, subscribe, or engage with your website. Focus on quality content over quantity and keep your copy concise and to the point. Leverage negative space to highlight the elements you want users to pay attention to.

• Make Your Website Easy to Navigate: Ensure your buttons are sufficiently sized for easy tapping. Keep them well-spaced and away from the screen edges to prevent accidental clicks or, more frustrating, the inability to click. Provide visual feedback when users interact with buttons and use descriptive labels to minimize confusion and enhance the user experience.

• Pass on Pop-Ups: Pop-us are universally disliked and can be particularly irritating for mobile users, especially when they obstruct the entire screen or are challenging to close. What’s more, they can also hamper website loading speed and performance. If you want to encourage action with a pop-up, consider a banner instead as they are less disruptive and remain visible throughout the browsing experience (unless closed).

• Opt For Legible Fonts: Don’t make users work to understand your website. Choose fonts that are easy to read and large enough to read without zooming in. You’ll also want to maintain consistency across your website (because it just looks better).

• Optimize Your Images: Images are crucial for visual appeal and user engagement, but they can also impact site performance and consume massive amounts of users’ data. Optimize images for mobile devices by compressing and selecting the appropriate format, such as JPEG, PNG, or SVG.

Despite having tens of thousands of unique products, Indigo has done a good job optimizing its site for mobile devices.

Conversion Catch 4: Failure to Follow-Up

If you didn’t get them the first time around, try and try again. Research shows that 98% of your website’s visitors will leave without taking action, and this figure is even higher for B2Bs. The point is, if you are relying on the 2% of web traffic that converts to support your business, you are selling yourself short.

Not Being Needy, But

To make sure you don’t lose out on promising leads, you’ve got to follow up and keep yourself fresh in the minds of consumers who are shopping for products or services like yours. The good news is that online shoppers aren’t like those in physical stores who can disappear into the sunset never to return and they give you a whole bunch of second chances.

Here are some pretty straightforward strategies on how to re-engage website visitors that didn’t action:

• Pixel-Based Retargeting: Even if you don’t know a thing about your visitors, you can still save the day with this trick. It’s as simple as dropping a teeny-tiny pixel (a bit of code sneaked into the back end of your website) into every visitor’s browser. That pixel (cookie) remains in their browser and waits and when the time’s right, it launches a targeting advertisement while the user is browsing the internet.

• Email Magic: If you do happen to have the email addresses of your visitors, you’re sitting on a goldmine. Fire off personalized emails with tempting deals, discounts, and all sorts of enticing offers to bring those browsers back.

• Abandoned Cart Recovery: So close, but no deal. Maybe the checkout process needs some love, or maybe it’s the surprise shipping charge. Whatever the case, abandoned carts are a major problem for businesses. While these changes need to be addressed, you can also entice cart bailers back with shipping offers, discounts, or, are you sure exit pop-ups.

Say no to web ghosting, reel those potential customers back in and convert them into happy, paying visitors.

Conclusion

What makes a website a winner? It’s not always about a sleek design or a big marketing budget. Sneaky conversion killers can creep in. Things like confusing copy or labyrinthine checkouts can quickly deter potential customers. The good news? Simple solutions can turn your website around and boost that conversion rate.

A clear value proposition, a simplified checkout process, mobile-friendliness, and a knack for following up can do wonders. Don’t let opportunities slip away instead, re-engage your audience and transform them into happy paying visitors. Remember, it’s not just about what your website offers but how you convey it to potential customers.

The post Where Did You Go? Why You’re Website’s Not Converting and How to Fix It appeared first on Nirvana Canada.